Mitsubishi i MiEV

More photos, including details of the charging plugs, motor & electronics

Meridian & Mitsubishi have been showing (and testing) off two i MiEV electric vehicles in New Zealand for the past couple of months. I got a good look at the white one on the weekend.

I must give a big thank you to Meridian for fitting me in before the cars left New Zealand, it has inspired me to get some rubber engine mounts into my car so it's not so noisy.

It was very quiet inside, I could barely hear the motor and I couldn't hear the PWM frequency at all. The motor and all the electronics are in the back, under a cover in the boot floor with a thick layer of insulation above the cover. The vacuum pump (for the vacuum assisted brakes) was faintly audible inside but quite noisy when standing outside. Acceleration is good, I've never been in a regular i, so I can't make that comparison, but it was quick enough to surprise my neck on one occasion. Mitsubishi are leaving a lot of regen on the table. The car only does "engine braking", it doesn't do more regen when you put your foot on the brakes. I guess they haven't yet integrated the drive system with the ABS -- you would think that the ABS computer could manage things to maximise regen without compromising handing. The gearstick has a "B" mode which appears to be designed for descending long hills and applies more regen.

It has a slow charging plug on the right hand (road) side and a high current plug on the left hand (kerb) side. This low current plug looks a lot like SEA J1772 but has different keyways around it's circumference. This could be a prototype of the SAE standard, or something else entirely. Interestingly, it was supplied to Meridian (one of the power companies here in New Zealand) configured to draw 15A at 240V only. They have been charging at a couple of locations where they had a 15A socket. The plug has some extra pins, so you would expect Mitsubishi could make two cords, one that tells the charger to draw only 10A for the normal sockets in New Zealand and another for 15A. The Brusa NLG513 has a "control pilot" wire in it's mains cable for this purpose.

The fast charging plug is apparently a direct connection to the battery through a contactor. The contactor is important -- while the contacts are shrouded, they are so big that a medium sized child could put their fingers into them. Meridian didn't have the associated high current charger.